Performance- and cost-efficient archiving of small objects

US11983143B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Khanh V. Ngo · Tucson, US
• Slavisa Sarafijanovic · Thalwil, CH
• Dominic Mueller-Wicke · Weilburg, DE
• Simon Lorenz · Geisenheim, DE
• Harald Seipp · Mainz, DE
• Takeshi Ishimoto · Yokohama, JP

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 29, 2022
• Grant date: May 14, 2024
• Expiry date: Jul 29, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F16/185
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A method includes receiving a plurality of files where each file represents an object. The method further combines selected files of the plurality of files into an aggregation file and stores the aggregation file on low-latency storage media, such as disk storage media. The method represents the aggregation file with a single inode that is stored on the low-latency storage media. The method migrates the aggregate file to high-latency storage media, such as tape storage media, while leaving the single inode representing the aggregation file on the low-latency storage media. By collecting files into larger aggregation files, the number of files archived is significantly reduced and the files archived are of larger size. The reduced number of files and increased size of the files improves archival and retrieval performance due to reduced metadata operation overhead. A corresponding system and computer program product are also disclosed.